Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal- 3 Poems

THE TORTOISE

 

I can’t stand for losing.

I can’t let the tortoise beat me.

The sun shines expertly.

The fly won’t leave me alone.

It comes at me like an arrow

It’s cruel just like the sun.

 

I have been shackled to a

tree.  My flesh is burning up.

I have had enough of the sun

and the fly.  I don’t feel well.

I can’t let the tortoise beat me.

I want to call the race off.

 

 

 

SONGS OF DESPAIR

 

Songs of despair

worm throughout my soft skull.

The dark songs hum

loud at night and whisper

 

in the morning.  Like full-

blown lullabies the songs

are calm and sweet,

then turn melancholy.

 

The songs go on

in perpetuity.

They will not end.

They follow me around.

They’re the shovel and the

dirt, preparing me for the grave.

 

 

  

COLD BEER

 

Drinking cold beer

with a tooth ache.

It does not feel

too good at all.

 

Drinking cold beer

with an old flame,

it does not feel

too good at all,

 

especially

when the past is

brought back and all

the reasons why

 

we are apart.

Drinking cold beer

does not help when

the tooth and heart

 

are hurting just

as much.  At least

I could have the

tooth extracted. 

 

The old flame burns,

but in time I

could douse that

flame with cold beer.